I tend to read in thematic fits and starts. Recently, I've been reading lots of books about the Internet, social media and the future of the "written word." The best among these has been Cory Doctorow's Content, Clay Shirky's fascinating tour through the reasons why social media has taken off, Here Comes Everybody, Martin Lindstrom's eye-opening Buyology, and Seth Godin's inspirational book about tribal leadership, Tribes. As I ease out of this period, I find myself easing into a period of reading foreign literature in translation. Booksellers often bemoan the fact that only 3% of books published in the US annually are translations from other languages. So periodically I try to catch up on some of the best or most interesting (at least to me) of the current year's crop of books. So far, Dubravka Ugresic's essay collection Nobody's Home is smart, poignant, often funny and always illuminating, and Amara Lakhous' tragi-comedy Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio is turning out to be exactly as advertised. When I find the time, I'm planning on reading Esther's Inheritance, the fourth novel by Hungarian Sandor Marai to be translated into English. One of my other interests is futuristic fiction, and I lead a monthly discussion of some great futuristic, fantasy & weird fiction at our Speculative Fiction Book Club. We meet on the last Monday of each month, and online all year long through our Yahoo group, what_if_sfbc. New members are always welcome. Check out the list below for some of the books I'm currently recommending:

	Vanessa & Virginia by Sellers, Susan Format:  Hardcover (Cloth) Price:  $23.00 Published: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), 2009 Inventory Status: On Our Shelves Now   See all editions of this title. "You see, even after all these years, I wonder if you really loved me." Vanessa and Virginia are sisters, best friends, bitter rivals, and artistic collaborators. As children, they fight for attention from their overextended mother, their brilliant but difficult father, and their adored brother, Thoby. As young women, they support each other through a series of devastating deaths, then emerge in bohemian Bloomsbury, bent on creating new lives and groundbreaking works of art. Through everything--marriage, lovers, loss, madness, children, success and failure--the sisters remain the closest of co-conspirators. But they also betray each other. In this lyrical, impressionistic account, written as a love letter and elegy from Vanessa to Virginia, Sellers imagines her way into the heart of the lifelong relationship between writer Virginia Woolf and painter Vanessa Bell. With sensitivity, imagination, and fidelity to what it known of both lives, Sellers has created a powerful portrait of sibling rivalry.
	Brooklyn by Toibin, Colm Format:  Hardcover (Cloth) Price:  $25.00 Published: Scribner Book Company, 2009 Inventory Status: On Our Shelves Now   See all editions of this title. From the author of The Master," a moving novel about a young immigrant in 1950s Brooklyn torn between her Irish roots and the man who wins her heart.
	Secret Son by Lalami, Laila Format:  Hardcover (Cloth) Price:  $23.95 Published: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2009 Inventory Status: On Our Shelves Now   See all editions of this title. Youssef el-Mekki, a young man of nineteen, is living with his mother in the slums of Casablanca when he discovers that the father he believed to be dead is, in fact, alive and eager to befriend and support him. Leaving his mother behind, Youssef assumes a life he could only dream of: a famous and influential father, his own penthouse apartment, and all the luxuries associated with his new status. His future appears assured until an abrupt reversal of fortune sends him back to the streets and his childhood friends, where a fringe Islamic group, known simply as the Party, has set up its headquarters. In the spirit of "The Inheritance of Loss" and "The Reluctant Fundamentalist," Laila Lalami's powerful first novel explores the struggle for identity, the need for family, and the desperation that overtakes ordinary lives in a country divided by class, politics, and religion.
	Netherland (Vintage Contemporaries (Paperback)) by O'Neill, Joseph Format:  Trade Paperback Price:  $14.95 Published: Vintage Books USA, 2009 Inventory Status: On Our Shelves Now   See all editions of this title. In a New York City made phantasmagorical by the events of 9/11, and left alone after his English wife and son return to London, Hans van den Broek stumbles upon the vibrant New York subculture of cricket, where he revisits his lost childhood and, thanks to a friendship with a charismatic and charming Trinidadian named Chuck Ramkissoon, begins to reconnect with his life and his adopted country. As the two men share their vastly different experiences of contemporary immigrant life in America, an unforgettable portrait emerges of an "other" New York populated by immigrants and strivers of every race and nationality.
	The Enchantress of Florence by Rushdie, Salman Format:  Trade Paperback Price:  $14.00 Published: Random House Trade, 2009 Inventory Status: On Our Shelves Now   See all editions of this title. "The Enchantress of Florence" is the story of a mysterious woman, a great beauty believed to possess the powers of enchantment and sorcery, attempting to command her own destiny in a man's world. It is the story of two cities at the height of their powers-the hedonistic Mughal capital, in which the brilliant emperor Akbar the Great wrestles daily with questions of belief, desire, and the treachery of his sons, and the equally sensual city of Florence during the High Renaissance, where Niccolo Machiavelli takes a starring role as he learns, the hard way, about the true brutality of power. Profoundly moving and completely absorbing, "The Enchantress of Florence" is a dazzling book full of wonders by one of the world's most important living writers.
	The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Shaffer, Mary Ann, Barrows, Annie Format:  Trade Paperback Price:  $14.00 Published: Dial Press, 2009 Inventory Status: On Our Shelves Now   See all editions of this title. "A fabulous, fun read to make you forget about politics and the economy for a few hours. Set in 1946, England begins to get back to normality after the war, and Juliet, a young writer, stumbles across a remarkable group of people on the island of Guernsey. As their story is slowly revealed through a seres of letters, readers are treated to a fascinating history lesson, sparkling prose and a satisfying love story all rolled into one. Enjoy!" -- Rich
	My Revolutions by Kunzru, Hari Format:  Hardcover (Cloth) Price:  $25.95 Published: Dutton Books, 2008 Inventory Status: Out of Print   See all editions of this title. Critics have compared him to Martin Amis, Zadie Smith, Tom Wolfe, and Don DeLillo. Granta dubbed him aone of the twenty best fiction writers under forty.a Now Hari Kunzru delivers his afinest novel yet . . . bringing to the angry activism of the young in the late sixties all the suspense of a spy thriller.a (Lisa Appignanesi, author of "Unholy Loves") Chris Carver is living a lie. His wife, their teenage daughter, and everyone in their circle know him as Michael Frame, suburban dad. They have no idea that as a radical student in the sixties he briefly became a terroristaprotesting the Vietnam War by setting bombs around London. And then one day a ghost from his past turns up on his doorstep, forcing Chris on the run. As Chris flees, he remembers his days as an isolated youth, hopelessly in love with Anna Addison, following her as she threw aside conventionality. Chrisas rival for Annaas affections, the charismatic Sean Ward, was the leader of the radical August 14th Group. Egging one another on, the three inched closer and closer to the edge, until the events of one horrifying night forced them apart, never to see one another again. Gripping, moving, provocative, and passionate, "My Revolutions" brings to brilliant life both the radical idealism of the sixties and the darker currents that ran beneath it, the eddies of which still shape our history today.
	What I Saw: Reports from Berlin 1920-1933 by Roth, Joseph, Hofmann, Michael, Hofmann, Michael Format:  Trade Paperback Price:  $14.95 Published: W. W. Norton & Company, 2004 Inventory Status: Usually Ships in 1-5 days   See all editions of this title. Glowingly reviewed, the revival of Roth's work--about the tragicomic world of 1920s Berlin as seen by its greatest journalistic eyewitness--introduces a new generation to the genius of this tortured author.
	Dangerous Space by Eskridge, Kelley Format:  Trade Paperback Price:  $18.00 Published: Aqueduct Press, 2007 Inventory Status: Usually Ships in 1-5 days "This is the best collection of stories I've read in forever. Cutting edge in every sense, Eskridge mines the raw edges of emotion -- love, lust, and fear -- and places her characters in settings just a bit different to our own -- the near future, the recent past, or the slightly fantastic. If you like Kelly Link, Nicola Griffith or Neil Gaiman you'll love Kelley Eskridge." -- Rich
	Zoo Station by Downing, David Format:  Hardcover (Cloth) Price:  $23.00 Published: Soho Press, 2007 Inventory Status: Usually Ships in 1-5 days   See all editions of this title. "An intriguing thriller which takes place in Berlin in the early days of 1939. Downing's morally compromised protagonist is a British journalist resident in Berlin, who wishes only to remain near his young German son and actress girlfriend, but who can clearly see the certainty of approaching war. The Russian intelligence services recruit him to write propaganda pieces, and both the British and German intelligence services think this would be a wonderful opportunity for Russell to spy on the Russians for them. Meanwhile, a friend of Russell's is mysteriously killed while researching an article on the darker aims of Nazism, and Russell comes into possession of the evidence to back up the explosive story. Downing depicts life in Berlin at this pivotal moment in history with exacting detail and dramatic flair. Russell's dilemma is that of anyone who sees the writing on the wall, knows they're ultimately powerless against the larger forces, yet feels they have to try to do something, no matter how small, to oppose them. Zoo Station is engrossing thriller, and a vivid history lesson with great relevance for us today." -- Rich
Voyage of the Shadowmoon by McMullen, Sean
Ragamuffin by Buckell, Tobias S.
Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Godin, Seth
Halting State (Ace Science Fiction) by Stross, Charles
Half Life by Jackson, Shelley
Elantris by Sanderson, Brandon
Un Lun Dun by Mieville, China
The Baum Plan for Financial Independence: And Other Stories by Kessel, John
The Good Fairies of New York by Millar, Martin, Gaiman, Neil
In Europe: Travels Through the Twentieth Century by Mak, Geert
Divisadero by Ondaatje, Michael
The Uncommon Reader by Bennett, Alan
Circling Home (Wormsloe Foundation Nature Book)
The Execution Channel by MacLeod, Ken
Hick by Portes, Andrea
Brick Lane by Ali, Monica
The Way of Ignorance: And Other Essays by Berry, Wendell
Never Let Me Go by Ishiguro, Kazuo
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Hamid, Mohsin
McCarthy's Bar: A Journey of Discovery in Ireland by McCarthy, Pete
The Melancholy of Anatomy: Stories by Jackson, Shelley
My Family and Other Animals by Durrell, Gerald Malcolm, Durrell, Gerald Malcolm
Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England by Olson, Lynne
Life Class by Barker, Pat
Accelerando by Stross, Charles
Sly Mongoose by Buckell, Tobias S.
The Steep Approach to Garbadale by Banks, Iain
Poison Sleep by Pratt, T. A.
Vogelein Volume 1: Clockwork Faerie by Berndt, Jeff, Irwin, Jane, Irwin, Jane
The Graveyard Book by Gaiman, Neil, McKean, Dave
Vogelein: Old Ghosts by Irwin, Jane, Lien-Cooper, Barb, Cooper, Park
The Floating Island (Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme (Quality)) by Haydon, Elizabeth
Little Brother by Doctorow, Cory
Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, Copyright, and the Future of the Future by Doctorow, Cory
Lonely Werewolf Girl by Millar, Martin
The Secret History of Moscow by Sedia, Ekaterina
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Barrows, Annie Fiery, Shaffer, Mary Ann Fiery
Mainspring by Lake, Jay, Tobias

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